SINKING OF TROOPSHIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16823, 13 April 1918, Page 2 (Supplement)

SINKING OF TROOPSHIP.

NURSE'S GRAPHIC STORY.

BRAVERY OF THE TOMMIES.

The troopship torpedoed on December 30 with the loss of 610 lives in the Eastern Mediterranean was the former Royal Mail liner Aragon, and had about, 2500 troops on board. She tank with many of them still singing. Miss Agues Mitchell, a V.A.D. nurse, of Glasgow, writing on January 4. said : — " We had a must delightful journey and voyage, full particulars of which I had written up while sailing, but these aro Dow down among the mermaids. . . . Last Sunday morning we saw the buildings of —. We were preparing fur the landing which would take place in an hour's time. 1 was down in our cabin, puking the last lew articles, when—will, 1 .annot explain it, bat 1 knew what was wrong. Then there were ban.bed fans and hurried footsteps, but—not the. least sign >.( panic. Wo bad been drilled so well almost eery day that we knew just what to do. " The Tomm'es. 01 whom we had many on board, were perfect 'bruks.' They stood to their various jnsts and cheered us when our U.ats left the sinking shipcheered us although many of them were never to see .ami again. We got off safely from the fated vessel, and a? we were luckily very near shore, 12 miles off, there were several trawlers quite cose to us. '1 hey steamed up to us and we were hoisted safely into them.

'We then turned our attention to the boys struggling in the water. Our ship had by this time disappeared stern first, so that lor a few seconds she seemed to stand perpendicularly in t:io water. We were delighted to'see tic hoys being safely taktn to the torpedo boat which had remained with us as escort. Officers had charge of the various drafts of man, and they did splendidly also. Some were apportioned to our lifeboats, others were to be in charge of the rafts to which the men men were to ding in the water until they ■sere picked up. Women Help to Rescue the Men. "We were all busy in the trawlers, nurses and officers both, pulling the poor shivering and often half-drowned boys up the 6ides by means of ropes. It was hard work, but it. was lovely when you managed to get one over the gunwale and gave some return of strength by means of a little brandy or whisky. Some of us luckily had managed to save our flasks, and we were thankful, as they proved so useful. * " Just a i we inought of moving over to another batch 0..' men on a raft a dreadful explosion like the first was heard, and as we looked at the torpedo-destroyer, lined from stem, to stern with khaki figures, we realised that she had met with a similar fate. It was a terrible moment as we stood there wondering when it would be our turn. More terrible it seemed, too, when we had to turn tail and flee—yes, acutally flee for the shore in the trawlers, leaving these poor boys in the water. "The next hour proved the worst we had ever lived through. We had some very badly-hurt men in the trawler, and by looking after them and trying to heat up tho shivering ones our minds were no little districted from that which proved to be a dreadful crisis. Everything we saw as we ploughed through the water seemed to take the form of a periscope; every sound we heard seemed to start our nerves. Many Marvellous Escapes. " However, at last we passed the boom, and I can tell you there was some reaction. Not one of us had wept, not one of us had uttered a cry when the two ships went down; but when we reached tie quay of the harbour, lined with cheering soldiersour own British Tommies —and heard the cheers of welcome from all the surrounding boats, it was almost more than we could bear. Oh! to feel dear old terra-firma again! It was grand. " We watched the ships returning with their loads of officers, men, and nurses. Such glad reunions there were! Everyone seemed to be so closely drawn together in passing through a common danger. Then, of course, we nurses and officers had spent three weeks in one another's daily companionship. We had had a very happy Christmas together and had got to know one another fairly well. " The two days following were ' jolly days, for all the men we had thought drowned kept popping into the hotel to show themselves and ask for the sisters who ha<| beei torpedoed. There have been casualties, of course, but, considering the double nature of the event, I think it marvellous that there were not more. Many of the officers and men who were in the destroyer described their escape as marvellous. They were simply blown off into the water. Some were sucked down, but came up again; others had fearful knocks on their faces, but still came up smiling. Vessel Sinks in Fifteen Minutes.

I "There is always a funny side to everything. If you had seen the motley crew we were arriving at —! Many of the girls had no coats; most of us had either white caps or blue veils on our headsjust what we were wearing at the time. Then the men—some had no jackets and were barefooted. One had a blanket for a kilt. " There was one officer who had sported a monocle on board ship. What do you think He was seen sitting on a raft in the middle of the disaster still with his monocle.

" New Year's Day dawned rather sadly for us. We had lost everything and wore far from home. However, during the morning we were each presented with a little Red Cross bag, containing a brush, comb, toothbrush and powder, and a handkerchief. It was our sole possession, and we did treasure it. It is not tho new clothes one regrets so much as the personal treasures. However, we are all in the same boat. Wo have our health and we have each other,' soare we downhearted ? No!"

The Aragon sank in 15 minutes, with hundreds of' troops on board still singing. Many were picked up from rafts by trawlers.